Ben was born in Chickasha, Oklahoma, on April 26, 1934, to Hazel and Benjamin Goff. Ben was adored by his father, who was also an attorney and who he lost when he was nine. Ben attended high school in Chickasha and, in 1955, obtained his Bachelor of Science in Statistics, with a minor in Philosophy from the University of Oklahoma. Ben then attended the University of Michigan School of Law graduating in 1958. Ben was exceedingly proud that he was a University of Michigan law school graduate. After graduating law school, Ben practiced law in Oklahoma for
over thirty years, focusing on tort, insurance, and employment litigation.
Ben was a successful trial lawyer and a scholar of the law. He successfully argued many seminal cases in front of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and the Tenth Circuit. His proudest accomplishment in Oklahoma was
raising his four children, Benjamin, Kevan, Heather and Bruce.
In 1984, Ben met his wife Carmen Mitchell during a hearing in Oklahoma City. They married in Dallas on May 16, 1987. In 1989, Ben moved to Dallas where shortly thereafter they celebrated the birth of their first son, Jimmy. Six years later they were blessed with the birth of their second son, Justin.
Ben was truly a renaissance man who had a genuine thirst for knowledge and a curiosity for some of life’s most complex subjects. Ben’s hobbies included cooking (especially baking pies), reading (String Theory, the Mueller Report, Hamilton), writing and endlessly listening to Johnny Cash. Ben also enjoyed the sound tracks of My Fair Lady, The King and I and Sound of Music.
He loved watching cheesy action movies.
When Ben was not in his office, he enjoyed spending time with his dog and his family, including his grandchildren Benjamin, Bill and Alex Goff. Ben
enjoyed spending time at their lake house in Athens, Texas, and traveling the world with his wife and many friends.
Ben is preceded in death by his beautiful daughter Heather (1981), his sister Carol (2001), his beloved mother-in-law Ruth (2012), and his adored son Benjamin (2018).
Ben is survived by his wife Carmen, their sons Justin and Jimmy; his brother-in-law Michael Mitchell and his wife Brandi, along with their children Matthew and Molly; his daughter-in-law Teresa Goff, along with her children Benjamin, Bill and wife Madeline, and Alex; his daughter Kevan Goff-Parker and her husband John Parker, along with their son Danniel and wife
Holly Parker; and his son, Bruce.
The family would like to express its sincere loving thanks to Ben’s nurse Mary Riley for her excellent care, friendship and constant love during the last years of Ben’s life. She was, and is, an angel in our life.
A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, July 9, 2019, at 4:00 p.m. at
Sparkman/Hillcrest Northwest Highway Chapel, 7405 W. Northwest Hwy, Dallas, Texas. A celebratory reception will follow at the Goff family residence.
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